Last week’s Wiltshire Times carried a story about a lady fined for feeding birds, in a case brought by Wiltshire Council.

This sort of situation is often reported, yet little or nothing said about the fact that go through the streets of most towns in the early hours and see it littered with discarded food, human vomit, excrement, urine, this is the big attraction for rats and pigeons, often called rats with wings by the issue dodgers.

Sadly, as per usual with many officials, look for a scapegoat and easy target, go for someone who is doing something that is vital for seed-eating birds at this time of the year, supplying them with food that is not yet available in the wild.

The issue dodgers try to blame cats, magpies, foxes or any convenient scapegoats for human ignorance and arrogance, rather than face up the truth. Yes the rats can be a problem, but get things in perspective.

David Thomas, Hisomley.